Death of the Dodo

The extinction of the famous flightless bird of Mauritius, the Dodo, tells the sad tale of the effect humans can have when they to colonise another country! 

The Dodo, Raphus cacullatus, used to be found on the isolated, volcanic island of Mauritius, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, as shown by the map to the right. This tiny island was first discovered by the Portuguese in 1507 but did not become popular until the Dutch arrived in 1598, as explored by Gold et al. 

What did the Dutch do?

In 2006, Julian P Hulme created a full account of the history of the Dodo and aimed to solve any of the myths created due to the lack of evidence associated with this fluffy friend. From this he noted that before 1620, there were many Dutch accounts of the Dodo but after this is drastically reduced. Initially, people thought that the hungry sailors that arrived on the island after weeks at sea were to blame, as they'd go for the biggest, easiest to catch food that they could find. As well as Dodo, there was also a rich supply of pigeons and parrots that supposedly tasted nicer and therefore the predation pressure from humans was slightly reduced, meaning that that was not the sole cause of their extinction. 

Unfortunately, however, when the Dutch sailors arrived they didn't just bring themselves, they also brought lots of exotic invasive species that would continue to cause absolute havoc. Hulme explains that in 1600 monkeys were brought over, in 1606 goats, cattle and pigs and finally in 1639, deer made their way on shore. All of these invasions were very successful, being the Dodo's first predator and eventually lead to their extinction in 1662. The pigs were thought to have been the most detrimental due to the habitat destruction they caused and them feeding on the eggs or chicks of the Dodo. 

But that's not all! The colonisation of humans lead to the destruction of the Dodo's home, and feeding on small vertebrates, nuts and fruits, they were very reliant on a large area of land to live off as Gold et al. found through reading Dutch sailors diary entries. This dependence on the forest and the fact they could not fly to escape the invasion lead to their demise. 

It wasn't even just Mauritius!

Sadly, the colonisation of Rodrigues, an island 560km East of Mauritius, saw the extinction of their very own flightless Rodrigues solitare bird due to human activity as explored by Gold et al. As noted in previous posts, islands are at the most risk to extinction from the introduction of Invasive Alien Species and this a classic example to prove this. Their isolation and unique ecosystems leave them very vulnerable to outside influence. So was it the human's fault? Or was it just an unfortunate circumstance? 

Mauritian Identity

Despite the sadness generated from the loss of this bizarre bird, Mauritian people still continue to love and cherish it as part of their culture and identity. Meet Sharvanee Mauree, my best friend and house mate at university who was born and lived in Mauritius until moving to London to study here at UCL. I asked what the Dodo means to her,  and she replied...

"I think it's a symbol of being Mauritian. It's on our passports and all official documents and it's funny because none of us have seen it in real life. I think in a way it's a sign of what we have lost and whether we can preserve the rest of our wildlife now, that's for us to decide!"